On Wednesday Connecticut voters will have their first opportunity to size up the two major party candidates running for governor. That’s when Democratic nominee Ned Lamont and Republican nominee Bob Stefanowski face off for the first of five scheduled debates before the November election.
The debate at the Garde Arts Center in New London will be the first time that Democrat Lamont and Republican Stefanowski – both businessmen who’ve never held elected office – will appear one-on-one on stage. UConn political scientist Ron Schurin says voters should hope for a discussion of ideas about how to fix the state’s fiscal woes.
“But I fear it will be a discussion of attacks on Stefanowski’s business practices, or attacks on Lamont as a clone of Malloy.”
Schurin is referring to outgoing Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy, who has low job approval ratings. He says he’d advise Lamont to highlight the Republican Trump administration’s $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions.
“Lamont would charge that it would cause a rise in property tax. And Stefanowski can probably legitimately go after Lamont saying that he is not going to be tough on the public employee unions as need be. So that would be a combination of the political and personal but very legitimate.”
The three minor party and independent candidates in the race hardly registered in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, and were not invited to the debate.